For a while in the bus they sat down. The helicopter was still circling above, it kept coming back and forth to check the area.
Everything was silent for some time until slight static noises could be heard then Nancy's voice spoke.
"Mike are you there? Mike?" They all looked towards Mike's bag to realise it was his walkie.
"You guys hear that?" Dustin asked.
"No just one of us sound like the opposite side of a radio station now." Marlow replied sarcastically. Mike took the walkie out his bag and they all crowded around and listened closely.
"Mike its me Nancy. Mike are you there? Mike we need you to answer."
"Is that your sister?" Lucas questioned as they all leaned in.
"This is an emergency Mike. Do you copy? Mike do you copy?"
"Ok this is really weird." Dustin said as Lucas reached out for the walkie before Mike stopped him.
"Don't answer!" Mike exclaimed.
"She said it was an emergency!" Lucas argued.
"What if its a trick?" Mike argued.
"Its your sister!" Lucas exclaimed.
"What if the and people kidnapped her? What if their forcing her to say this?" Mike spoke back.
"I need you to answer!" Nancy continued.
"Its like Lando Calrissian. Don't answer!" Dustin demanded.
"We need you to answer Mike!"
Then Nancy's voice changed, they know heard the chief Hopper talking.
"Listen kid this is the chief. If your there pick up. We know your in trouble and we know about the girl." Hopper started.
"Why is she with the chief?" Lucas asked.
"How does he know?" Marley adds.
"We can protect you, we can help you. But you gotta pick up! Are you there do you copy? Over."
They all fell silent, before they all agreed to answer.
'Why would the chief set us up?' That was the thought in all of there heads.
"Yes i copy." Mike said into the walkie. "Its Mike. I'm here. We're here." Marley gave the chief directions to the junkyard and he told them all to lay low and stay there. A while later the chief still hadn't arrived. Dustin began pacing up and down the bus. After some time this got on Mike's nerves.
"Will you stop pacing?" Mike demanded.
"Its been way to long." Dustin replied.
"20 minutes." Marley says sarcastically.
"You know what Mike maybe your right. Maybe this is all a trap. And the bad men are coming to get us right now!" Dustin yelled.
"Is not a trap.why would the chief set us up? Nancy maybe." Lucas started, this made Mike pull a face. "But the chief?"
"Lando Calrissian." Dustin reminded you all.
"Would you shut up about Lando!" Lucas demanded.
"I don't fell good about this. I DON'T FEEL GOOD ABOUT THIS." Dustin yelled to Lucas.
"WHEN DO YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT ANYTHING?!" Lucas shouted back at the top of his lungs.
Suddenly they heard the sound of a car coming round the corner in front of the bus. They all ran to the front of the bus to see who it was. At first one car pulled then another one joined it.
"Shit!" Marley yelled and they all ran back to there seats at the back of the bus, this time
"Lando." Dustin said while breathing heavily.
"You think they saw us?" Lucas asked.
"Both of you shut up. get ready" Mike ordered.
The men explored around the junkyard until one came across your bikes under the bus. They heard him walk across to the door and begin to open it. Before anyone could say anything his face was slammed into the door and they could hear punching and kicking out of the bus. Until it all came to an end and Hopper walked into the bus.
"Right lets go." He said to them all but they all just stared at him. "Let's go!" He repeated and they all grabbed there bags and rushed after him. After Marlow jumped into the bag seat of his police car he drove they all down a familiar road. Then they passed Marlow's house then they came up to Will's. When they got out they were greeted by Nancy, Jonathan and Joyce waiting for them all at the doorstep. Nancy came running up to Mike and threw her arms around him.
"I was so worried about you!" She exclaimed.
Mike didn't know how to reply so he clearly said the first thing that came to his mind.
"Yeah uh... me too." Nancy ignored this and looked at Eleven, she noticed her pink dress and recognised it.
"Is that my dress?"
Mike showed Joyce, Nancy, Jonathan and Hopper the same example of the gate that Mr. Clarke had shown them a few days ago.
"In this example we're the acrobat. And Will and Barbra, and that monster they're this flea." Mike explained. "And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space."
"Like a gate." Marley added.
"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab." Lucas continued.
"With our compasses." Dustin continued. Joyce, Nancy and Jonathan all exchanged confused looks before Dustin explained.
"Okay so that gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the direction of a compass needle."
"Is this gate underground?" Hopper questioned.
Eleven answered him. "Yes."
"Near a large water tank?" He asked again and Eleven nodded her head.
"How does he know?" Dustin began to question.
"He's seen it." Mike says quietly as Joyce began speaking.
"Is there any way that that you could, that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this-"
"The upside down." Eleven finished.
"And my friend Barbra? Can you find her too?" Nancy asked.
"Yes." Eleven mumbled. They all sat around the Byers kitchen table and watched as Eleven closed her eyes and searched for Will and Barbra. The radio Hopper had paced in front of her made static noses for a while until the light above them all flickered. Eleven opened her eyes, she looked as if she had let them all down.
"I'm sorry." She whispered as tears started forming in her eyes.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Joyce stuttered.
"I cant find them." Eleven responded. Joyce's face dropped and Marley showed Eleven too the bathroom so she could wash her face and the blood.
While she was gone Marley, Mike, Lucas and Dustin began to explain that Eleven can do it but she was worn out.
"Whenever she uses her powers she gets weak." Mike started.
"And the more energy she uses the more tired she gets." Dustin added.
"Like she flipped the van earlier." Lucas continued.
"It was awesome." Dustin smirked at them all.
"But she's drained." Marley added.
Dustin thought of an example. "Like a bad battery."
Joyce started to stutter with questions. "Well how do we make her better?"
"We cant. We just have to wait and try again." Marley answered.
"How long?" Nancy asked. It seemed as if she didn't enjoy waiting for anything.
"We don't know." Mike responded. Suddenly Eleven appeared out of the shadows behind Marley.
"the bath."
"What?" Joyce asked.
"I can find them." Eleven began explaining. "In the bath." No one knew what she meant by this, they all thought she was talking about a bath like one you would get clean in. Everyone looked at each other. Suddenly Dustin had an idea, he ran over to the Byers phone and started dialling several numbers. When the other line picked up they all found out who he called.
"Mr. Clarke? Its Dustin." He spoke. Then it made sense, Mr. Clarke was a living genius of course he would know how to build a bath.
'Dustin is everything ok?' They heard through the line.
"Yeah yeah its just... i have a science question..."
'It's ten o'clock on a Saturday. Why don't we pick this up-"
"Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one?" Dustin interrupted.
'Sensory deprivation? What is this for?'
"Umm fun."Dustin said saying the first thing that came to mind.
'Ok well.' Mr. Clarke sighed. 'Why don't we talk about is Monday? After school, ok?' Dustin immediately answered with a smug face.
"You always say we should never stop being curious. To always open any curiosity door we find. Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?" Mr. Clarke clearly had no choice but to reply, Mr. Clarke started giving instructions of what they needed and how much of it. Dustin was writing all these things down on a notepad in front of them all, after hanging up the phone with Mr. Clarke he turned to Joyce.
"You still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" He asked.
Joyce looked at Jonathan to check. "I think so yeah."
"Good. Then we just need salt. Lots of it." Dustin continued.
"How much is lots?" Hopper questioned.
Dustin looked back at his notes then back up to Hopper. "1,500 pounds."
"Where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy said with a sarcastic face. Before Marley knew it she was sat again in the front seat of Hopper's police car, making there way to school. Hopper remembered one of the shed's next to the school's gym building ,that connected Hawkins Middle and Hawkins High, the shed was full of de-icing salt.
When they pulled up Joyce's car came behind and parked next to hoppers. Dustin and Lucas grabbed the kiddie pool from the trunk of her car and brought it into the gym. Nancy and Mike, Joyce and Eleven and Hopper and Jonathan went off to get things they needed.
In the gym, they rolled the kiddie pool into the middle and untied the rope around it, when they did, it collapsed making it look like a squashed pancake.
"How the hell do we do this?" Marley asked grabbing one side of the deflated pool.
"Right you hold onto that side I'll hold here and Dustin you grab there." Lucas instructed.
As they all pulled out the side they had, the side with no one supporting it collapsed.
"How does this even work?!" Dustin complained. They all tried agin but the same thing happened. Dustin let go of his side to go grab hold of the other, but when he did the side he stated with collapsed too.
"Son of a bitch!" Dustin exclaimed. After a while of struggling you all got it to stay up, but you shouldn't have celebrated too fast because it fell back into the place where it started.
"Oh for fuck sake!" Marley yelled, her temper getting the better of her. They ended up repeating the same cycle of what they did, again failing. Nancy and Mike entered the room carrying multiple hoses to attach to the taps and too the pool. Nancy looked at them all failing and instructed Mike to hold the side with no one at it. Again they all pulled it out and Nancy came around with a rope to support the pool. After admiring there success they high fived each other until Nancy called them over to get the water ready.
Mike held the two long hoses at the pool while Lucas held a thermometer inside waiting for the right temperature, Nancy was stood at the taps practically a world away from you across the gym. Lucas shouted instructions to her on the temperature until it was correct. Next the salt. Hopper and Jonathan cut the bags off salt they brought and poured them into the pool. Marley tested to see if it was correct by balancing a egg on top of the water.